


Replay

by runicmagitek



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Childhood Memories, Cultural Differences, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Mid-Canon, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:15:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22408567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/runicmagitek/pseuds/runicmagitek
Summary: “Do human winters involve flailing your arms and legs around while white fuzz falls from the sky?”Shepard snorted. “First off, it’s snow, and second off, only when you don’t know the basics of ice skating.”“Ice… what now?”“You put special boots on with blades that are meant for moving on the ice.”“Yeah, you lost me.”Shepards finds an old video at a time when she should be saving the galaxy and shares both the footage and memories with the one she trusts the most.
Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian
Comments: 12
Kudos: 67





	Replay

Laughter seeped out of the video feed. Another fumble, but nothing to hinder that radiant smile. The luminescence from the omni-tool washed vivid colors across Shepard’s face, plummeting the rest of the room into darkness.

She sat on the edge of her bed, slumped over with her cheek smooshed against a limp fist. She rarely blinked, let alone look elsewhere. Even when the video ended, it looped to the beginning. Again she watched, again she held her breath.

Snow danced around a crowd bundled in scarves and mittens. Fairy lights and wreaths adorned nearby buildings, rivaling the brilliance of the stars Shepard now made her home. And in that crowd was a small redhead eager to skate.

The girl rushed onto the ice rink. She flailed tiny arms. Her legs wobbled. Disembodied words called to her. Paying no attention to the heed of caution, she engulfed the snow-filled array. One foot slipped from underneath. She squealed and crashed on her butt.

Instead of tears and screams, there was laughter. A genuine sound that resonated from the depths of her soul until those around her chuckled. Even Shepard cracked a smile at the silly child clad in her oversized earmuffs and penguin mittens.

“What’s this?”

Shepard pried her sights away. In the darkness, she discerned the silhouette of a familiar turian inching closer. Anyone else intruding her quarters and thus her privacy was bound to receive ruthless reprimand, but Garrus wasn’t just anyone.

“If I didn’t know better,” he continued, dryer than the wintry air in the video feed, “I’d say you’re reviewing status reports in those humans sleeping bits—”

“Pajamas?”

Garrus sighed and waved a hand. “Yes. Those. You’re doing that instead of going over them on the bridge.” He slowed to a halt before her. “Not that I blame you. I can admire the krogan all day, but their recent additions to the Normandy are... well, I don’t believe a word has been invented for that yet.”

“Maybe you should make one up.”

“Oh,” he chuckled out, “the only things anyone wants me making up are reasons to put more holes in bodies.” He paused and cocked his head. “Or... to fill holes, for particular people.”

Shepard bit back a smirk and raised an eyebrow. “Particular people?”

“Redheaded ladies who give me orders and also happen to like scars. A tall order, I know, but at least you don’t have any competition.”

“And here I was worried you were talking about someone else.”

“And if I _was_ —” He sat next to her. “—I would look the other way while you airlocked her.”

The faint light from the video feed cast a dim glow over Garrus. He scooted closer, slipping an arm around Shepard, and squinted at the recording.

“Quite a strange format for your status reports,” he murmured, a hint of fascination lacing his words.

“That’s because,” Shepard said and paused the video, “it’s _not_ a report.”

“Could’ve fooled me.” Garrus leaned into her, his scarred cheek perched on top of her head. “Dare I ask what it is?”

Shepard drew in a jagged breath. “I was clearing out my inbox, which piled up to astronomical levels. I found this little gem towards the bottom.”

She restarted the video. The same little girl attempted to ice skate, only to fall yet again. Shepard swore Garrus hummed when laughter crackled through the static and bounced across the room.

“If I didn’t know better,” Garrus said after a bout of silence, “I’d say that small human was related to you.”

“That’s because she is me.”

He pulled back and cocked his head. “Makes sense. Would explain your dance moves—”

“Stop it!”

Shepard whacked him, Garrus feigned immense pain, and they both dissolved into tender chuckles.

“You look….” Garrus glanced at the frozen feed, paused at a tiny, grinning Shepard. “Happy.”

The smile gracing her face pained Shepard. “Yeah. I guess I was.” Her eyes fell to her lap. “My parents sent it to me before my promotion to commander. Something they found during a winter vacation of ours.”

“Do human winters involve flailing your arms and legs around while white fuzz falls from the sky?”

Shepard snorted. “First off, it’s snow, and second off, only when you don’t know the basics of ice skating.”

“Ice… what now?”

“You put special boots on with blades that are meant for moving on the ice.”

“Yeah, you lost me.”

“Think of it like dancing across a frozen body of water.”

“Well, _now_ that explains your flailing and—”

“Oh, _hush_.”

He chuckled. “Leave it to humans to take a deadly weapon and slap it on their feet for the sake of entertainment. And to think it _doesn_ _’t_ involve fights to the death.”

“Kind of ruins the spirit of the winter holidays.”

“Not with that attitude.”

Shepard smiled and rolled her eyes, lingering on the flickering feed. “I forgot how happy I was as a kid. Carefree and enthusiastic. Not a worry in the world.” She sighed. “I miss those days. Sometimes I worry I won’t ever be as happy as that again. Or….”

Garrus looped an arm around her and held her close. “Or what?”

“What if… after all of this, everything we’re fighting for, Earth isn’t around anymore? All those moments I treasured—” Her gaze drifted. “All of it gone, taken away. I wouldn’t be able to revisit any places or people I loved. No one would.”

She closed her eyes, but it wasn’t enough to blot out the images plaguing her. Now wasn’t the time to inform Garrus of the nightmares which deprived her of restful slumber, either. There were greater matters to focus on; her stubborn memories and irrational fears could wait. No one needed to be burdened with trivial matters.

But Garrus nuzzled in closer, kissed her temple, and hummed, the affectionate vibration akin to a purring kitten. “That’s why we’re fighting. If not us, then who else? Need to show the Reapers we won’t yield that easily.”

“They’ve already taken enough.”

Garrus paused. “You’re not wrong, but they haven’t taken everything yet. And if we’re still standing after it’s all done? We can rebuild what’s left. What is it you humans say? Something about counting thoughts?”

“It’s the thought that counts.”

“Right. That.” He gave Shepard a little squeeze. “And with those memories you have? All the good ones you’re still clinging to? That’s what matters. And we can start over again with thoughts like that.”

She glanced back at the paused video of herself, far too young to fathom the horrors the galaxy expected her to confront. “I hope so.”

“I _know_ so.” Garrus slipped fingers beneath her chin to bring her face parallel to his. They bumped forehead before easing in for a tender kiss, one last sentence slipping past his lips, “I promise.”


End file.
